Will we finally know the names of the sponsors of Thomas Sankara’s assassins, “father of the revolution” Burkinabè and emblematic revolutionary figure of the African continent? The circumstances of his death, 34 years after he was shot by a commando team inside the presidential palace, have still not been clarified. “We will finally know, with supporting evidence, the sponsors and actors of his assassination”, says Burkinabè historian Bila Kaboré on the eve of the opening of the trial Monday, October 11, 2021 before the military court in Ouagadougou.
Blaise compaoré, main accused
The main accused, former Burkinabè President Blaise Compaoré, was brought to power by the 1987 coup d’état in which Thomas Sankara was killed. Compaoré will remain in power for 27 years before being overthrown in turn in 2014 by a popular uprising.
Aged 70, he has since lived in Côte d’Ivoire, a country of which he obtained nationality and where he has long maintained a privileged relationship with President Alassane Ouattara, making a possible extradition illusory after an arrest warrant issued by Burkina Faso justice in 2016. The former president will therefore be tried in absentia for “complicity in assassinations”, “concealment of corpses” and “attack on state security”.
Right-hand man of Thomas Sankara during his seizure of power in August 1983, Blaise Compaoré has always denied having ordered the assassination of his “intimate friend”, although the 1987 coup brought him to power.
Soldiers of the former presidential guard of Compaoré, in particular the former chief warrant officer Hyacinthe Kafando, accused of having been the commander of the commando and currently on the run, are also among the defendants.
Sankara: mobilizing the people to modernize the country
Aged 33, Sankara, father of the Burkinabè revolution, symbolizes the Africa of youth and integrity. The one who has been called the “African Che Guevara” has also renamed his country Burkina Faso, the “land of upright men”.
Sporty and slender, smiling and charming, the young leader was still dressed in a fatigues, carrying on his belt a pistol with mother-of-pearl stock offered by the North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. Charismatic, he wanted to mobilize the population to modernize the country with a simple slogan “homeland or death “.
Its priorities at the time: improvement of the health situation, opening up of the countryside, education, promotion of women, policy in favor of peasants. Popular access to culture and in particular to the cinema (Fespaco).
Living modestly with his wife and two sons in a dilapidated presidential palace, all he had was his guitar and a second-hand Renault 5, which he would impose as a company car on all members of his government accustomed to luxurious sedans.
Sankara will call on Africa not to pay its debt to Western countries, denounce wars before the UN “imperialists”, apartheid, poverty and will defend the right of the Palestinians to self-determination.
The reasons for a betrayal
Why will Blaise Compaoré betray his friend Sankara? This is a big question that is still not cleared up. Is it under the pressure of the Ivorian president, Houphouët Boigny, worried about the declarations and actions of the young leader or of the French president of the time François Mitterrand, very irritated by the anti-colonialist speeches of the captain?
During his 27 years in power, Blaise Compaoré did nothing to try the assassins of the father of the Burkinabè revolution. It was not until his fall in 2015 for the case to resurface and for an arrest warrant to be issued against him by the Burkinabè justice in March 2016.
Thomas Sankara’s widow, Mariam, who has lived in the south of France since 1990, is expected to attend the opening of the trial in Ouagadougou. Trial which may perhaps provide some answers.
